According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and conducted by Rutgers scientists, cefepime and enmetazobactam were more effective than the conventional regimen of piperacillin and tazobactam for treating complicated urinary tract infections and acute pyelonephritis (AP).

Complicated urinary tract infections are defined as urinary tract infections accompanied by risk factors such as fevers, sepsis, urinary obstruction, or catheters that increase the possibility of failure of antibiotic therapy. The researchers noted that many of the antibiotics commonly used to treat infections, like penicillins and cephalosporins, are ineffective against extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing bacteria.

The study, conducted across 90 locations in Europe, North and Central America, South and Central America, and South Africa, included over 1000 patients, out of which, 20% of patients were suffering from ESBL infections. In this 20% subset of patients, 73% of the patients received cefepime and enmetazobactam. Meanwhile, 51% of the patients in this subset who received standard therapy were clinically cured.

The findings of the study reported by researchers from the ALLIUM Phase 3 clinical trial showed that approximately 79% of patients receiving the novel combination of cefepime and enmetazobactam were successfully treated, in comparison to 58.9% of patients receiving the standard treatment of piperacillin and tazobactam. 

(Source: https://theprint.in/health/new-drug-to-fight-complicated-utis-found-effective/1182369/ )